Research

Micro-Solid Oxide Fuel Cells with Nanoscale Free Standing Membranes

Micro-SOFCs (𝜇-SOFCs) are a type of fuel cell that utilizes solid oxide materials as electrolytes to convert chemical energy to electrical energy. They are characterized by their small size and the use of ion-conducting ceramic electrolytes, which traditionally have thicknesses ranging from tens to hundreds of nanometers. This design allows for lower operating temperatures without compromising performance.

We focus on a novel self-supporting ceramic electrolyte membrane around 10 nm thick. This extremely fragile membrane serves as a platform for studying nanoionics under fuel cell operating conditions. The challenge with such thin membranes lies in their fragility during both fabrication and operation.

One primary aim is to enhance the mechanical strength of the ceramic electrolyte membrane. It can be achieved by configuring the membranes as a bi-layer structure or dish-shaped membranes, which helps reduce grain sizes and improve overall mechanical stability. 

• Mridula Biswas, Hanlin Xie, Jong Dae Baek, and Pei-Chen Su. "Fabrication of Yttria-doped Barium Zirconate Electrolyte with Sub-micrometer Thickness via Low Temperature Viscous Flow Sintering" Surface and Coatings Technology 320 (2017): 432-436. LINK

• Yong Li, Lai Mun Wong, Hanlin Xie, Shijie Wang, and Pei-Chen Su. "Nanoporous Palladium Anode for Direct Ethanol Solid Oxide Fuel Cells with Nanoscale Proton-conducting Ceramic Electrolyte." Journal of Power Sources 340 (2017): 98-103. LINK

• Jong Dae Baek, Kang-Yu Liu, and Pei-Chen Su. "A Functional Micro-solid Oxide Fuel Cell with a 10 nm-thick Freestanding Electrolyte." Journal of Materials Chemistry A 5 (2017): 18414-18419. LINK

• Yong Li, Shijie Wang, and Pei-Chen Su. "Proton-conducting Micro-solid Oxide Fuel Cells with Improved Cathode Reactions by a Nanoscale Thin Film Gaolinium-doped Ceria Interlayer." Scientific Reports 6 (2016): 22369. LINK

• Jong Dae Baek, Chen-Chiang Yu, and Pei-Chen Su. "A Silicon-based Nanothin Film Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Array with Edge Reinforced Support for Enhanced Thermal Mechanical Stability." Nano Letters 16 (2016): 2413-2417. LINK

• Mridula Biswas, Hanline Xie, and Pei-Chen Su. "Low Temperature Synthesis of Sub-micrometer Yttria-doped Barium Zirconate Thin Films by Modified Chemical Solution Deposition Technique." ECS Transactions 68 (2015): 481. LINK

• Yuh-Chung Hu, Tsung-Han Lee, Pei-Zen Chang, and Pei-Chen Su. "High Power Co3O4/ZnO P-N Type Piezoelectric Transducer." Thin Solid Films 584 (2015): 112-115. LINK

• Hanlin Xie, and Pei-Chen Su. "Fabrication of Yttrium-doped Barium Zirconate Thin Films with Sub-micrometer Thickness by a Sol-gel Spin Coating Method." Thin Solid Films 584 (2015): 116-119. LINK

• Jong Dae Baek, Yong-Jin Yoon, Wonyoung Lee and Pei-Chen Su. "A Circular Membrane for Nano Thin Film Micro Solid Oxide Fuel Cells with Enhanced Mechanical Stability." Energy & Environmental Science 8 (2015): 3374-3380. LINK

• Yao-Chuan Tsai, Po-Keng Chung, Wen-Pin Shih and Pei-Chen Su. "Fabrication and Strength Analysis of Humanoid Focusing Mechanism." Microelectronic Engineering 98 (2012): 610-613. LINK

• Pei-Chen Su and Fritz B. Prinz. "Nanoscale Membrane Electrolyte Array for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells." Electrochemistry Communications 16 (2012): 77-79. LINK

• Pei-Chen Su and Fritz B. Prinz. "Cup-shaped Yttria-doped Barium Zirconate Membrane Fuel Cell Array." Microelectronic Engineering 88 (2011): 2405-2407. LINK

• Pei-Chen Su, Cheng-Chieh Chao, Joon Hyung Shim, Rainer Fasching and Fritz B. Prinz. "Solid Oxide Fuel Cell with Corrugated Thin Film Electrolyte." Nano Letters 8 (2008): 2289-2292. LINK